Two face rape charges

Published: October 11, 2004 8:00PM

Kevin Macri
Caldwell Bureau
CALDWELL Two Noble County men are facing first-degree felony rape charges following an investigation by the Noble County Sheriff's Office into the weekend disappearance of a 12-year-old girl and her 13-year-old sister.
According to Noble County Sheriff Landon T. Smith, the girls parents had allowed them to go to an all-night birthday party at a friend's house in Monroe County last Friday.
According to reports, the girls left the party with the suspects.
Brandon C. Saling, 18, Summerfield, and James T. Allen, 18, Sarahsville were each charged with rape of a person under 13 years old, a first-degree felony.
Allen was also charged with three counts of corrupting another with drugs, a felony of the fourth degree.
Smith said the investigation also led to the arrest of Barriman Bell, 18, Belle Valley, charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Joshua Clark, 19, Summerfield, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child.
Smith said other charges are being considered against the alleged suspects.
"When the parents went to pick up their daughters, they discovered they had left the party during the night," Smith said. "The suspects allegedly had shown up at the birthday party and asked the girls to go for a ride with them. Then they were not returned to the birthday party."
Following an extensive search, Smith said the girls were located in a camper in Stock Township.
Saling and Allen were scheduled to appear today in Noble County Court before Judge Lucien C. Young III.